Hand made cards

by Norimi Kusanagi

A typical day will find Bainbridge Island resident, Norimi Kusanagi, on a mission to discover and collect small leaves and flower petals that others may pass by without notice. She presses the specimens, collected from Bainbridge Island, Hawaii, California, New York, and Japan, into a holding book where they await their next transformation.

Upon returning to her studio, Ms. Kusanagi creates each design by arranging the pressed leaves and flowers petals to reflect nature’s simple elegance and preserve the vibrant color and texture. As the final step, she customizes each card by placing a hand-stamped Japanese character 合掌 “gassho”, literally meaning, “putting hands together and bowing”. This is the Japanese version of NAMASTE, interpreted as love, gratitude, peace, and compassion. Through her art, she senses the flowers are bowing to us.

She has created more than 1000 images over the past five years and looks forward to continuing making new designs all year around to share the beauty of pressed flowers with many people.